Asian share markets are trading on a cautious note today as investors weighed the Fed minutes that flagged the possibility of a debate on scaling back asset purchases.

The Nikkei is trading on a flat note while the Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 0.3%. The Hang Seng is down 0.8%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices closed lower on Wednesday after minutes from an April Federal Reserve meeting showed participants agreed the US economy remained far from the central bank's goals.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% while the Nasdaq dropped 0.1%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a flat note.

A total of 32 companies, including Bosch, Havells India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, HPCL, Brookfield India REIT, and Torrent Power are scheduled to release their quarterly earnings today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 61 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 46 points.

Titan is among the top gainers today. ONGC, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened down by 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector and the FMCG sector witnessing heavy selling pressure.

Consumer durable stocks, on the other hand, are trading in green.

Shares of Adani Transmission and Deepak Fertilizers hit their 52-week highs today.

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin posted a same-day plunge and a rally of about 30%. It fell to US$ 30,000 and then topped US$ 40,000 before falling again to US$ 35,500.

Ether, the second-biggest coin, sank more than 40%.

The rupee is trading at 73.18 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 48,528 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.5% at Rs 72,057 per kg.

Among gold ETFs, Kotak Gold ETF and HDFC Gold ETF are among the top gainers today.

Gold hovered below a more than four-month high hit in the previous session, as the dollar firmed and US Treasury yields rose.

In news from the energy sector, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is among the top buzzing stocks today.

IOC on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 87.8 bn for the January-March quarter (Q4FY21), helped by higher refining margins.

This is compared with a loss of Rs 51.9 bn in the same period a year back.

Revenues surged to Rs 1.63 lakh crore from Rs 1.39 lakh crore last year.

IOC posted a record net profit of Rs 217.6 bn on a consolidated basis, during the fiscal year 2020-21 against a loss of Rs 18.8 bn in the year-before period.

This was the highest annual profit ever reported by the IOC.

IOC Chairman, SM Vaidya attributed the increase in profit to inventory gains, which came from fluctuations in global crude oil prices and rising sales of high-margin petrochemical products.

The company's revenue in the period fell by 9% to Rs 5.19 lakh crore.

The company reported a total income of Rs 5.23 trillion during FY21 as compared to Rs 5.78 trillion during the corresponding period a year before.

The company's board also declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.50 per equity share.

This final dividend is in addition to the interim dividends of Rs 10.50 per share paid for the financial year 2020-21.

IOC share price has opened the day down by 1.5%.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, the Rs 40-bn share sale in private sector lender Axis Bank was subscribed more than two times on Wednesday.

The offer for sale (OFS) saw bids for nearly 135 million shares from non-retail investors, data provided by stock exchanges showed.

Most bids came in at Rs 701.6 as against the floor price of Rs 680 per share.

About 5.8 m shares reserved for retail investors will be auctioned today.

Following the OFS, the government's stake in Axis Bank held by the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) will drop from 3.45% to 1.5%.

Last year in December, the center had offloaded a 0.88% stake in the private lender.

Apart from Axis Bank, SUUTI also has minority stakes in several listed and unlisted companies, with most of its funds locked in ITC (7.93%) and construction engineering company L&T (1.8%).

SUUTI had earlier sold off most of its stake in L&T.

The amount raised through this share sale will go towards the government's 2021-22 disinvestment target.

The center has set the disinvestment target for the current fiscal at Rs 1.75 trillion.

Axis Bank's share price has opened the day down by 1.2%.

Speaking of Axis Bank, have a look at the chart below which compares the share price performance of the private lender with the benchmark BSE Sensex over the last year.

Have a look at the chart below which compares the share price performance of Axis Bank with the benchmark BSE Sensex over the last year.

While Rs 100 invested in BSE Sensex a year back has turned out to be Rs 154, the same has turned out to be Rs 164 in Axis Bank.

It would be interesting to see how the stock performs in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more updates from this space.